Music forms the bulk of many a radio station's output; it defines their character and values, and is regulated to the point of suffocation. We tend to assume that because a radio presenter appears in control on air, they must have some say in the music they play. This is rarely the case.

The new kid on the block is going about business differently. Absolute Radio - the national station due to replace Virgin Radio on Monday - is inviting listeners to come to their London studios and sit in on their weekly playlist meetings, where staff and presenters discuss what music should be played.

The Absolute Radio chief operating officer, Clive Dickens, explains: "Playlist meetings have always had a sheath of mystery around them ... our listeners are key to building the Absolute brand and knowing what they think about the music has always been one of our major objectives."

Music testing by radio stations is the reason so many of the same songs are heard on different stations; asking hundreds of people their opinion establishes a middle-ground, where the peaks and troughs of individual taste are smoothed out.

Somebody once hit the nail on the donkey by describing music testing as "the equivalent of filling Wembley stadium with people, asking what their favourite food is, and then feeding them fish and chips for every meal".

In some radio stations the group programmer has the final decision on the new music. Weekly music testing still guides the decisions, but then another factor comes into play: record pluggers.

The conduit between the music and radio industries, pluggers aim to ensure their label's releases receive airplay.

Their job is the stuff that adages about mutual back-scratching were made for. The plugger has the content - the music, the interviews, the competition prizes, the exclusives. Radio has the audience, capable of lighting an artist's fuse and sending their career sky-rocketing.

The net result is that deals are done to ensure everyone gets what they want. A group of stations may add a new artist to their playlist in return for an exclusive competition for listeners to meet a more famous artist. How many times the song is played may depend on what the station gets in return.

And so the playlist meetings begin weaving their tangled web. Immediately, the justification for spending tens of thousands of pounds on music testing becomes null and void. Even if the song is disliked by listeners, it'll still be played several times a day.

Then there's the matter of those stations who approach advertisers to sponsor artist appearances and competitions. Suddenly you're not a million miles away from payola; radio stations play particular songs in return for events that generate revenue for the station.

So how involved will Absolute Radio's listeners be in choosing the music? The decision to open up playlist meetings to the public has more than a whiff of gimmickry to it and ultimately it'll be staff that have the final say, not the great unwashed.

But having met Clive Dickens, I know he's passionate in his belief that radio in this country can and should be done better, more so than any of the industry's other figureheads.

Dickens wouldn't waste time trying something if he thought no good would come of it. Maybe Absolute Radio will sing a different song to the rest of the industry.